Thank you very much!! This is the transparency that folks who are doing research need. As you say no dog in this fight, so it’s great to see a non bias legit and in depth article. Of course MDF is used based on its low cost! Come on! Yeah the Kabinet sounds great, but not because of its MDF material, but because of its well built, incredible sounding and affordable Chinese made Kone. The Kone (along with the DSP intelligence) is the heart of the whole thing. If we are being fully transparent,( like in the awesome link that you added) there is really no other story to tell.

I’ve just finished my Spalted Sycamore Hardwood Wood cabinet. Solid wood on the outer shell and back planes baffles and 3/4” hardwood plywood in the inside. Basically a beautiful finish on the outside with with a smaller very lively and indeed punchy sound from the plywood inner box.

It's mostly about resonant frequency, and this is where MDF and HDF have the advantage in that they're fundamentally (see what I did there?) consistent.

HDF's really-heavy, which I'm guessing is why Kemper chose not to use it; it'd detract from one of the lures of modelling setups - that of reducing the load, so to speak. Also, the resonant frequency is likely to be lower and that mightn't have suited the intended purpose.

Bear in mind that studio-monitor manufacturers have employed MDF and HDF for years for their consistent, minimal influence on the sound. More-expensive models might go so far as to use solid metals, which have even-less influence.

As far as studio monitors go, the material and how it's shaped are king when consistent, minimal-influence enclosures are the goal.

The assumptions I made about Kemper's choice were based on this, so of course I could be completely-wrong, but I suspect the minimal-influence and consistency factors would've played a role.

My Kabinet just arrived! However, I am a little unsure how to hook it up. I currently have an unpowered kemper + camplifier. I have the main outs going to be audio interface and studio monitors, so have the camplifier connected to monitor out. Will this work okay? Will I be able to have kone functionality enabled for the monitor out but not the main outs? I wont be able to play around with this for a while yet, but it isn't super clear to me how to set this thing up.

Yesterday ordered the cabinet (will take a week to ship) and seperately a Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170. Got the Powerstage today and was very disappointed by the continuous noise of the fan. Now saw in reviews that others have similar experiences.

Yesterday ordered the cabinet (will take a week to ship) and seperately a Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170. Got the Powerstage today and was very disappointed by the continuous noise of the fan. Now saw in reviews that others have similar experiences.

Will return it, but what power amp to order now???

If you don't need so much power...I'm using a DV Mark CMT as a power head. 60 watts into 4 ohms.It sounds good and the bonus is that it sounds good by itself into a normal guitar speaker.I originally bought it as a multi-use device. When used by itself, it uses a small tube for the preamp.

1) Using a Mini Brute circuit preamp pedal as the front end for jazz guitar sounds2) By itself as a small, good sounding amp.3) With the Kemper Kone.

If you don't need so much power...I'm using a DV Mark CMT as a power head. 60 watts into 4 ohms.It sounds good and the bonus is that it sounds good by itself into a normal guitar speaker.I originally bought it as a multi-use device. When used by itself, it uses a small tube for the preamp.

1) Using a Mini Brute circuit preamp pedal as the front end for jazz guitar sounds2) By itself as a small, good sounding amp.3) With the Kemper Kone.

interesting choice Carl. Looks good as a poweramp plus back up all in one solution just incase a Kemper ever goes South on a gig. That got me thinking ,ay e the Bluguitar Amp 1 would be another option for a poweramp using FX Return or all in one backup. Not a cheap option but potentially the best of both worlds.

nice to hear your rocking a mini brute preamp. I was looking for some nice jazz tones on the KPA the other night and found a lovely mini brute profile on rig exchange 😁

Put two Kones into a Vox AD120VTX. It's a Stereo combo. Ripped the amp out, to make it cabinet only. Using the amp as a separate power amp only (thru the stereo returns) and using the Kones in Stereo monitor mode (Direct and Monitor Out) . It sounds absolutely freaking amazing. Only thing I miss is the wonderful Stereo Boss CE-1 from the AD120 (Kemper's isn't as good!).

ckemper
- how's about creating a Kemper decal so I can replace the Vox one. I could use the sticker but that would look tacky.

Would love to hear from someone with a HeadRush FRFR-112 compared to the Kabinet. It's gonna be awhile before Sweetwater gets them back in. They are having to close 2 weeks start.

The plus on the headrush is, its powered. The minus, it's the whole made of plastic thing tone and it doesn't have the kone. I've owned the headrush,powercab and went for the Friedman. The Friedman gives it that (thump). I'm awaiting on the powered cab.

Alright I see a lot of questions about using the Kabinet for high gain. I have been using m50x exclusively since I got my toaster for a few months. I got my kab last week. I’m a rock/hard rock/metal/whatever core name it type guy. Naturally most profiles I have and use are v30 based.

Now maybe the profiles (granted they’re paid packs from the popular high gain makers) are the issue but I’m kinda underwhelmed coming from a 5153 head + 2x12.

Basically on headphones the profiles sound great and lots of nice liquid beefy gain. On the kabinet using a DI profile with v30 imprint it just feels kinda thin and hollow, and like some of the gain and liquid ness is lost. I played with directivity a little bit but not sure where to go from there. I’m not missing any settings as far as I can tell.

And yes I did add a “fake” cab to the DI profiles so that imprint mode will work even though it over rides them. Some of the non DI profiles sound good in frfr mode but not the cab in the room feeling.

Maybe I need to get a real cab and plug kemper into that to compare.

Thoughts? I’m not ready to give up on it yet but maybe was expecting more. For cleans and low to medium gain it sounds pretty good.

Would love to hear from someone with a HeadRush FRFR-112 compared to the Kabinet. It's gonna be awhile before Sweetwater gets them back in. They are having to close 2 weeks starting tonight

I don't have a Headrush but I am trying it through an EV ELX112P and Yamaha HS-8 comparing it to the tube amp through a 12H75, the profiled amp with cabinet through the same (FR) speakers and the DI amp profile through (>>SS poweramp>>) the cabinet with 12H75 speaker. I'm finding it makes even the FRFR sound a little more open and liking it so far. Just starting this and hoping that it might become an option through the main outputs. I'm liking the 12H heritage and 12T so far, but still messing around.